Spike Lee Film Analysis

Films made within the late 1980s/early 1990s (Menace II Society & Boyz n the Hood) attempted to illustrate the life of modern day African Americans through the celebration of violence, endorsement of mysoginistic masculinity, and the portrayal of women as being promiscuous, drug addicts, and irresponsible mothers(Giardina, 2005). A narrative that further supported the white middle class views of Blacks during this time. Though detrimental, this proved finically beneficial to Hollywood, just as Rap/Hip Hop albums was finically beneficial to the music industry (Giardina, 2005). They both gave a glimpse into what many believed to be authentic black culture. However as time passed this narrative was replaced with a more uplifting one, an attempt

Negative characteristics and attributes that tend to be linked with individuals living within inner urban America were clearly reflected through many of the characters in Lee’s film. This holds true when looking at the athletes within this film as well, the minority athletes within this film has adopted the circumstance Lee as presented, and in doing so exhibit violent actions throughout the film. One of the clearest example of this trope is with Jake Shutterworth. In He Got Game it is shown in multiple occasions how good of an athlete Jake was/is, however this also came with his tendency to be violent when angered. This is seen through Jake treatment of Jesus as a child, the precursor to the death of his wife came out of overly aggressive altercation with his son on the court. Another instance in which Jake violence became apparent his when Jake could not find Jesus. Throughout the scene we can see Jake slowly becoming more enraged as he still could not find Jesus, ultimately this ended with Jake punching and knocking out the man LaLa was in cohorts with. This violence among athletes is further demonstrated within the dialogue between Jesus and Big